Season 3, Episode 19: How to Find the Right Counsellor
Starting counselling is a big step, and finding the right person can make all the difference. In this episode, counsellor Rasha Taha talks about the importance of the counsellor-client relationship, what a “good fit” actually means, and how to find a counsellor that is a good fit for you.
You’ll hear practical advice on how to find the best counsellor for you, how to ask for a new counsellor if needed, and how to stay open to different approaches that might surprise you.
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Katherine Hurtig
Welcome to Living Fully. Each episode is a chance to talk about mental health in a way that's simple, honest, and helpful. We'll share stories, tips, and tools to help you feel supported and feel your best. I'm your host, Katherine Hurtig.
Starting counselling can feel like a big step, and sometimes the hardest part is just figuring out if you found the right person to talk to. In this conversation, we explore why the counsellor-client relationship matters, what a good fit can look like, and how to handle it if the match isn't quite right.
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Rasha, thanks for being here today. Now, I think it's been a little while since you've been on the podcast. Let's give our listeners a bit of a refresher. Who are you? What do you do?
Rasha Taha
Oh, goodness. So I am a counsellor at the Calgary Counselling Centre. That's the, I guess, my professional hat.
Katherine Hurtig
Nice.
Rasha Taha
In terms of my personal hat, I have a horse and I have cats and a dog. I'm an animal lover.
Katherine Hurtig
Amazing.
Rasha Taha
And I really like climbing in my spare time.
Katherine Hurtig
Very well-rounded.
Rasha Taha
Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
So yeah, we are going to talk today about the relationship between clients and their counsellors or therapists and what that means to the process of counselling and what people can get out of counselling. You know, let's start with the basics. Like why is that relationship - and I, you know, we're going to call it a relationship - why is that so important?
Rasha Taha
It's kind of like the shorthand for a therapeutic relationship, but we don't want to say that time and time again. And so it's really important because clients need to feel comfortable talking about some of their most vulnerable things that they're experiencing in their life.
Katherine Hurtig
Of course. Yeah.
Rasha Taha
So if they don't necessarily feel safe doing so, if they feel like they don't have the space to do that, then that can be something that can be worked on in counselling. But it's also important to have that human connection. And so…
Katherine Hurtig
I guess, I mean, that connection that you say, that's, I mean, that's going to be more important here than a lot of other, you know, services that you may pay for. You don't have to have a really great connection with your mechanic or, or even your dentist. But, but in this case, yeah, like you said, you get really vulnerable. So it's important to feel comfortable getting that way with another person.
Rasha Taha
Absolutely. And we all don't want to be judged. We don't want to, feel like we are less than. We want a safe space to bear everything out and for the person in front of us, the counsellor to be able to look at it and go okay let's wade through this in a safe environment.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. So in relationships with people whether that's friends co-workers whatever sometimes you know you just you have a fit you know you're a good fit with certain people and not with others. So with a counsellor, what does a good fit feel like? And how would someone know if they found it?
Rasha Taha
The goodness of fit here in terms of what clients experience, it's important for clients to feel comfortable. We're all different. We all have very different ways of presenting ourselves. I'm way more casual and bubbly and cheery and sometimes that's not a good fit for someone, and sometimes it's a great fit. And sometimes it's a meh, doesn't matter.
Katherine Hurtig
You know, everyone's going to perceive someone else's interactions with them in different ways as well.
Rasha Taha
Yep, exactly. So that is kind of more so what I mean when I say it's important for the client to feel like it's a good fit in terms of do they feel safe? Do they feel seen? Do they feel like they have a space to explore themselves with that person? How do they feel about it? And you could place counsellor A, B, or C in front of them. And they may gravitate towards one person because of the feel that they have.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
We can't always name it. And I think clients can't necessarily always name it. But I hear a lot from clients going, well, this didn't feel like a good fit. Okay, what does that mean? They have a hard time articulating that.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, it's hard to describe.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, exactly. It can be either a gut feeling or just something not quite fitting. And that's okay. I think it's important for counsellors to be really honest. And I do believe we are all here really upfront and honest about the fact that if you don't feel like this is working for you, there is no problem. We can put in a transfer. We can have that conversation. You're not saying anything's wrong or bad with me. It's not personal. I just want you to have a counsellor who you can jive with and feel safe with. And I want to facilitate that for you, even if it's not me. And I think we all do a really excellent job of that here.
Katherine Hurtig
Good. Yeah. The session rating scale. So for people who don't know, what is that?
Rasha Taha
Yeah, it is a, I believe, 10 question questionnaire that clients are encouraged to fill out at the end of their session with their counsellor. And it asks questions along the lines of how did the session go for you? Did it go the way that you wanted it to? Was your counsellor respectful? Did we work on your goals? So it's fairly straightforward to try to gain insight from the client around how they felt in that session. And we encourage clients to fill it out at the end of each session so that we can track how the session went and so that the counsellor can receive that information and change whatever they need to change for the next session. And so let's say first session, it's very classic and common for clients to ask, well, we didn't really work on our goals on my goals today. How do I rate that? And I go rate it exactly like that. We didn't work on them. So neutral or disagree, let's say. And that's OK. It's going to we'll have a lower SRS, which is OK. It gives me insight into how today went. And then next time, if let's say two sessions later, you're still scoring it as that, I need to shift something in terms of, hey, we're not working on your goals. We need to be working on your goals because that's why you're here.
Katherine Hurtig
And the questions, so what is, what's the rating there? So did we work on your goals? Is it…
Rasha Taha
We have a strongly agree, somewhat agree, neutral, strongly disagree, and somewhat disagree.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay. Yeah. I would think it would be, like, I know we were all about feedback and, you know, we really encourage that. but I think, I don't know, maybe it's the Canadian-ness of us. It's like…
Rasha Taha
The niceness. That is one of the things that I come back to with the SRS, where if I sense that a client, like if I feel like there's a disconnect between their score and how they're presenting, I want to approach that. But if I'm approaching it from looking at the score, it may be too confrontational for the client. And so I'll try to lean towards doing a more verbal SRS, a more verbal check-in, a really informal, hey, how is this going? Do you feel like it's going the way you want it to? So having that be a more organic conversation can land way, way better for some clients, where if a client is nervous or you're sensing a disconnect, you want to probe that because ultimately we want to be doing what's best for the client.
Katherine Hurtig
Right. Can counselling, can it still be effective if as a client, if you don't click with your counsellor right away, can it still be effective? Like, is it, I mean, it is, like you said, it's a relationship and that trust, it's probably going to be built over time and it doesn't always happen right away. Can you talk about that?
Rasha Taha
Yeah. I think that everyone's understanding of a good fit is going to look differently. And so let's say you've had as a client, you've had three or four sessions and something still isn't quite, you don't feel comfortable. You don't feel like your counsellor is X, Y, Z, whatever it is that it is, that could be a good time to bring it up with them. And hopefully if you feel comfortable doing so, bring it up in terms of maybe this isn't really what I thought it would be. Okay. And then your counsellor can ask, what did you think this was going to be like, let's talk about expectations. Let's talk about, am I not doing what it is that you are wanting? Um, so it can be a conversation. I think that's where clients can determine what it is that they want or need from a counsellor. And it may not be, it may be that they need the counsellor to be more confrontational or they need them to be softer or they need them to be very frank. And so those are the kinds of things that I can, I can imagine.
Katherine Hurtig
And those kinds of things that you mentioned, how much of that as a counsellor, are you able to adjust and how much of that is like, this is just how you are as a person, maybe we aren't a great fit. Let's see who else you can work with?
Rasha Taha
Wow. That's such a good question. And I feel like I can only answer it personally.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
So if I were to put this into an example, if a client were to say, I need you to just be harsh. I need you to say it as it is. I can give you my version of that. And it may not be what you want.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And that's okay. My version of being direct may or may not be what it is that you're wanting. And so I can give it a go. Absolutely. But it it's ultimately up to the client to realize, is it the approach that they're wanting? And if it works, it works. If it doesn't, maybe someone else can be a better fit because their understanding of direct is different. And so we each kind of wear that hat differently. We all I would I would argue we all have that ability to shift our approaches based on what the client is asking and what it is that they're needing. and that's a big part of the feedback-informed treatment, right? And so if, let's say, the SRS was low or the question was off, that's part of the counsellor's job to check in and go, what could I have done differently? And that's the client's opportunity to go, that was really harsh, or I need you to be softer, or I need you to be more direct, or I need you to be X, Y, Z. And then that's the counsellor's job to adjust to that.
Katherine Hurtig
Right. So if I'm someone who has never done counselling before, what are some things to think about in terms of a relationship with a counsellor before reaching out for counselling? Like what questions should I ask to kind of figure that out? What should I think about in terms of what I'd, you know, someone that I'd prefer to work with, that kind of thing?
Rasha Taha
This is a difficult question because I think that if someone is new to counselling, who has never engaged in it before, and I'm going to maybe add a specific example, has never engaged in counselling before, maybe has heard about some friends or people that they know engaging in it, but doesn't really know a lot about it, I would say just book an appointment.
Katherine Hurtig
Just go in with an open mind?
Rasha Taha
Because you don't know what you don't know.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, I guess that's true.
Rasha Taha
I think you can definitely do a deep dive into, oh, there's this modality or that modality, or you can do this or you can do that. But ultimately, you don't know what it's like in the room. You don't know what it's like in that space, whether it's virtual or in person, to work on the things that you want to work on. So the best thing that you can really show up with is what you want to change, what you want to work on, what you want to modify, what you want to reflect on. So things that you want to work on that have led you to counselling.
Katherine Hurtig
Right. And less about the person helping you.
Rasha Taha
Exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
I mean, I've gone through counselling on and off for years. So I think, yeah, when I get to that point of wanting some help, I'm like, okay, well, I know I want this kind of approach. I like this person in this kind of age range.
Rasha Taha
And the interesting thing about that, to kind of throw you a bit of a curveball, is the more that folks have a very specific idea of who they want, it can actually maybe not backfire, but it may not be entirely of service to them.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay.
Rasha Taha
To have that very specific idea because someone who has an entirely different approach could try to or could in a way help you in a way that you hadn't anticipated.
Katherine Hurtig
Right.
Rasha Taha
So that's the really interesting part when clients have preferences.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, that was going to be my next question because I'm sure, you know, we do this when we're looking for a family doctor or whatever. It's like, I want a female. So I'm sure that happens a lot with counsellors, whether it's gender or age or cultural background.
Rasha Taha
And client preference is the conversation that us counsellors have time and time and time again. It will continue coming up. There is no right or wrong to it. We will continue kind of chewing on that question of what does it mean for a client to have preferences? Is it good? Is it bad? And it's not either. It's context specific. And so a client may have a preference to see counsellor X or counsellor who has X identities. And that may be beneficial or that may be they may be held back by looking specifically at this particular these particular identities and not be challenged from different perspectives.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay.
Rasha Taha
So that's a really interesting one that I think about a lot where, yes, having preferences could indicate and could signify some element of safety for some clients.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Absolutely. And I will never invalidate that. I think that has merit and that can be extremely important and that can be fleshed out individually or, let's say, context specific. But again, I work through things best in example. Let's say someone is coming in because, let's say a man is coming in and wants to speak to, wants to work with another man because they haven't had good relationships with women in the past. It can actually be incredibly therapeutic to have a woman counsellor who they have a good therapeutic relationship with…
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, I could see that.
Rasha Taha
That they can model moving forward in their life. So them coming in specifically with going, no, I want to work with a guy because that's who I can relate to, they're potentially missing out on being able to model those skills with a female counsellor.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, those skills that they want to build. Yeah. You know, we know that that the relationship is important. If someone were to challenge themselves and not gravitate towards their preferences. Does that make sense? Yeah. If, yeah, if that's the case, would it take longer to build that relationship potentially?
Rasha Taha
I love that you asked that because that was something that came up with my student supervision group last week, where one of my brilliant interns mentioned how we were talking about client preference and they mentioned how having common identities or having those preferences be matched can have the potential to fast track the therapeutic relationship. Where let's say a client comes in and would like to speak with a BIPOC counsellor. That relationship may be fast-tracked because they're not having to explain a lot of the things that they may have experienced. But that also has the potential to backfire if the counsellor leans a lot on assumptions that they have experienced with the client whereas, let's say, a BIPOC counsellor, they have certain assumptions about how BIPOC people are treated, and then they place that assumption onto the client, and it may not fit. And so let's say, again, with an example, let's say a BIPOC counsellor has experienced racism as a result of who they are. Now they're looking at the BIPOC client and making an assumption that they experience racism in the same way that the counsellor does.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, they must have also, yeah.
Rasha Taha
Exactly, which is not an accurate assumption to make because everyone's experience is different.
Katherine Hurtig
And it's really hard to not put our assumptions on other people.
Rasha Taha
A thousand and ten percent.
Katherine Hurtig
You know, I'm very guilty of that. I think, you know, everyone around me thinks the way that I do about everything. Yeah.
Rasha Taha
Yep. And so it's a really interesting conversation where, yes, it does have the potential to fast track that therapeutic relationship in that, oh, we have these commonalities where, you know, maybe a client is thinking, oh, my counsellor gets me because they also share X, Y, Z identities. But they may not because they experience those identities in a very different way than the client does. So it's such an interesting mix where the counsellor has to be very, very conscious of those assumptions that they may be making and need to make room for the client experience. but there can be that sense of, I guess, that safety if clients are coming in wanting specific preferences met as a result of maybe not having been safe in different situations before with other counsellors.
Katherine Hurtig
Of course.
Rasha Taha
We do try our best to accommodate client preferences. It's never guaranteed, but it is something that we try to be mindful of because we understand that it can have a big impact on clients.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Yeah. So I guess as, you know, from a client perspective, keeping an open mind and not shutting down the process if preferences aren't matched exactly. Yeah. That's really interesting. I never really thought about that before.
Rasha Taha
It occupies so much space in my brain all the time. Yeah. Because it's like, I've experienced it from the counselling side. I’ve experienced from the client side . It’s been a 360 experience where I can see the benefit and I can see the hindrance. And it's never what I expect it to be. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes my own personal experience being on the client side, I have sought out counsellors who were very, very, very specific. And it was disastrous.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And so I got a taste of that in terms of, oh, I had these preferences and they were met one by one and it was not a good fit.
Katherine Hurtig
Right.
Rasha Taha
So it doesn't guarantee a good fit, which is why now I'm way more open and I encourage clients to be more open about who they're matched with because you really could be surprised by not having your preferences met but still having a really beneficial relationship with your counsellor.
Katherine Hurtig
For sure. It's really opening my eyes and making me think of experiences in the past because I go about it the same way every time. I want someone like me.
Rasha Taha
Yep.
Katherine Hurtig
I, you know, I want a female, you know, not that far off in age. Just because I think like they'll get me. Yeah. But it's just interesting to think what other perspectives I could have had.
Rasha Taha
It's uncomfortable. Yeah.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. But yeah, that's, I don't know.
Rasha Taha
I fall into that as well. Like I said, I have gone, and this is relatively recently, I have picked someone very, very, very specific.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And when it was not going well, I had to really take a step back and reflect and go, huh, interesting. Yeah. And it kind of goes back to, if I were to expand on it even further, that's like saying, oh, any queer person I meet, I'm going to get along with. Or any x-person I meet who shares this identity that I have.
Katherine Hurtig
That one part of your identity.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. I'm going to get along with it. It's as if ex-person can't be racist or sexist or this or that, or we just may not be a good fit for a million and 10 other reasons. So just because they are X doesn't mean that it's going to be a good fit is really the kind of equation that I now carry with me.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. And vice versa, like just because someone is X doesn't mean you won't be a good fit.
Rasha Taha
So just to blur it even further.
Katherine Hurtig
Exactly. So kind of in the similar vein, Should we be looking for counsellors who specialize in certain areas? Like if I'm Googling counsellors and I'm dealing with anxiety, does that have to be listed? Should I go to someone who just specializes in anxiety?
Rasha Taha
I would say our approach at CCC of us being generalists means that we will work with most, I'm not going to say all, but we will work with most presenting topics, anxiety being one of them, right? The big pieces around anxiety, depression, those are the two biggest ones that we see. We will always work with folks who present with different various degrees of either or. I think in terms of specificity, unless there is something really appealing about a particular modality that you're really curious about, I don't think it would necessarily warrant looking for someone who only specializes in XYZ unless it's something super specific. So an example would be EMDR. EMDR is a very specific certification that some counsellors will have.
Katherine Hurtig
So what does that stand for?
Rasha Taha
Yes. Eye movement desensitization. I always forget the R.
Katherine Hurtig
Reprocessing?
Rasha Taha
I think so. Is it? Yeah. It's a very particular kind of therapy that needs to be treated with a lot of care and a lot of intention. And it's not just something that someone gets to walk off the street and go, hey, I want EMDR. Yeah. It's usually for trauma. It's usually for, you know, I'm not going to speak too, too much about it, but it's for specific things that folks want to work on and so unless they have a really good understanding of what that looks like and they feel like that's what they want to walk into that can be something that they pursue but unless there's something specific in terms of modality I don't necessarily think it's that important that's not the client's job to essentially figure out what modality is going to work best for them yeah that's the counsellor's job.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay.
Rasha Taha
Right that's where our first session is going to come in where the counsellor is going to have that conversation with the client in terms of what it is that they're looking for, what it is that they're wanting to do. And it becomes the counsellor's job to put together a treatment plan in terms of, okay, this is what I think I'm going to, this is what I think that the client is going to benefit from. These are some of the approaches that I'm going to try and I'm going to reassess in three to five sessions and see how is that landing? Is it working? Where's the therapeutic relationship at? So it's a lot of different pieces that are coming together, but it's ultimately not the client's job to take that on.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And this is kind of where that open mentality, open mindset comes in. Maybe a lot of the rhetoric around social media these days is looking at the very specific modalities and going, this will help or that'll help. Or right. There's a reason I mentioned EMDR is because for some reason it's been circulating where it's like, oh, I'll benefit from EMDR. It's like if your counsellor doesn't think you will benefit from EMDR, they're the ones who have this profession, right? They're the ones who get to decide, is this going to help or is it going to hinder? Because any modality can, I would argue, can not be effective based on the client, based on the counsellor. Everyone works differently.
Katherine Hurtig
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like seeing a medication advertised and like, I want that.
Rasha Taha
Exactly. That is exactly it. It may land, it may not. It may have to be something different. It may have to be a different dosage. It may have to, there's so many different factors that play into it.
Katherine Hurtig
What kinds of questions in a first session are good to ask to figure out if counsellor is a good fit with you?
Rasha Taha
That's a really good question. And I encourage all of my clients to ask me anything that they would like. I know that's not necessarily everyone's approach, but I do, I personally think that giving them that openness of feel free to ask me what you would like. I'm very curious to see what it is that they want to know. If they start asking me about my personal life, I'm really curious to understand why that's relevant information.
Katherine Hurtig
Okay.
Rasha Taha
So kind of saying…
Katherine Hurtig
Because I'm sure that that happens.
Rasha Taha
A thousand and ten percent. And so that's why I want to leave it super open for clients because it's more for me as the counsellor, it's more about where is that question coming from and what are you hoping for? What will the answer provide you with? And I may never actually answer the question, but I want to understand the process behind it. And that'll tell me a lot. And so if I, let's say the client gives X, Y, Z rationale, I go, okay, that's valid. And maybe I will answer bits and pieces of those questions. But I don't want it to seem like… I have a hard time with this particular job where we're sitting in front of clients and we are asking them questions and helping them navigate some deep, heavy, vulnerable moments. It feels odd for them to not know who I am, if that's what they want to know.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah.
Rasha Taha
And so it feels like it's that power difference which is a hundred percent there it's more amplified and it feels more shut off and so I encourage clients if they have questions to ask and we can have a conversation about it because I want them to also know who's in the room with them, because it would be really weird…
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, you have to, to a certain extent I think.
Rasha Taha
To a certain extent yeah it would be really weird to not know a single thing about who you're working with yeah even if it's just trivial stuff such as I love my cats. They drive me up the walls, right? Like it's relatively insignificant, but it's also significant.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. I mean, if you can read people, you can get a sense of, of who someone is from, from little things like that.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. And I think it's important for us to have those moments because they humanize us and they humanize that interaction. And it reminds clients that this is a human interaction and I also have bad days. I also have not so great days, right? I'm, if let's say I didn't get a lot of sleep, it's like, oh, we're, you know, I'm going to operate a little bit differently and that's okay. And so it's important to put that on counsellors and to allow clients to have that interaction, have those interactions rather than it always being about them. And again, that's if they want to know. Some people don't care. And let's say, okay, there's no fault in that. But if there is a curiosity to know a little bit more, then I don't see why that's like, that can be something that clients ask.
Katherine Hurtig
So what common questions might you get in a first session?
Rasha Taha
So for folks who have done counselling before, they'll typically ask, how do you work with clients, right? What are your approaches? And so that can be about how the counsellor kind of goes about formulating a treatment plan, how it is that they maybe phrase their questions or whether they're direct or whether they're indirect, right? They get to kind of talk about that approach or those approaches that they have. And that'll give the client some understanding of what it is that they can expect in a session. So maybe some counsellors may be a bit more question forward, whereas other counsellors allow more room for the client to talk and process themselves without maybe interjecting or without pointing in a particular direction. And so those are kinds of the things that we can talk about in session in terms of what the particular approach may look like from the counsellor. So that's a pretty common one. What else?
Katherine Hurtig
So for a lot of people, it is kind of expensive. the idea of you know trial and error with a bunch of counsellors it's not appealing in that sense yep like I don't know if this is the right way to to think of it is there a way to kind of to expedite that connection are there ways to kind of figure out if you have a good fit I mean I feel like that's I don't know that's an impossible question.
Rasha Taha
I mean it's not an easy one that's for sure. The first thing that really pops up for me is how is the client showing up? So if a client is showing up really open, really upfront, is able to access some vulnerability, knows themselves, has some sense of self-awareness, that will give them a good idea of how the counsellor is going to respond. but that requires them stepping into that if they're wanting to like you're saying expedite that process I can definitely see myself doing that right like I can see myself going and going hey I'm paying for this I know exactly what it is that I want these are all the cards that are on the table let's go and I can probably suss out within the first one or two sessions if this is a good fit or not yeah but I know me being a counsellor I know what it is that what it's like other side.
Katherine Hurtig
Right. I guess, yeah, end of the day, it's something that can't really be rushed. And yeah…
Rasha Taha
I think, again, any good counsellor, which I will wager is anyone here at CCC, will want to know why are you wanting to rush the process?
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. Yes.
Rasha Taha
Right? I'm going to want to know, what is, is it just about finances? Because if that's the case, let's play around with finances. Let's make sure we bring in our sliding scale. Let's make sure this is accessible for you so that you don't feel pressured to expedite it. If you only have a limited amount of funds from insurance or from your plan or what have you, let's make sure it's comfortable so that you can settle into this and not feel like you have to, quote unquote, get your money's worth in the, let's say, three sessions that you have that are covered. Let’s make sure it’s actually accessible so you have the breathing room to have more sessions and be able to settle in to the process. It's one of my favorite things about my job. I would argue it was the top thing when I was…
Katherine Hurtig
What?
Rasha Taha
The sliding scale.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah. You know, I can guarantee it's, it's on people like a lot of other people's minds. When you're in it, when you're depressed, when you're anxious and you, on top of that, you have to worry about how you're going to pay to get help. That's awful. It's just like another weight. So yes, I think it is really important to take away that barrier, so. What should someone do if after a few sessions, three, four, they're not feeling that fit? It's just not, the connection's not there.
Rasha Taha
Yeah. I would 110% encourage folks to bring it up with their counsellor.
Katherine Hurtig
And how do you recommend that? Give us just a couple example scripts about that.
Rasha Taha
It can be deeply uncomfortable. I 100% agree it's not the most comfortable thing to do, especially when you're struggling to have that relationship with your counsellor. I would hope that the counsellor at the start was able to, and everyone here will explain, the SRS will explain that it's not a reflection of my job. I don't get graded on this. My performance is not tied to it. It has nothing to do with me. You're not disadvantaging me in any way. It's for you to help me help you, essentially. And so if that conversation has already taken place and three or four sessions in, let's say the client is not feeling super comfortable, it can come across in the SRS. So if, let's say, we usually encourage clients to fill out the SRS in session so that we can see the score and be able to have a conversation about it. But if that's too uncomfortable, you can fill out the SRS after the session is done and we can talk about it another time. We can talk about it during the next session. And so if you're not wanting the counsellor to be right there when you're answering it, if you just want a moment to settle in and to reflect on it and you want to have space before you have that conversation, you can just do it after. Your counsellor will get those scores, will mark it down as, oh, this wasn't you know this seemed like it wasn't super beneficial I want to check in with them about this next time and then you get to have that conversation then that's one way one way to go about it. I know this is not any counsellor's preference but sometimes people are not super comfortable doing it over video or in person and so they send it in an email they go I really don't think this is a good fit and I would like to be transferred or I would like to go somewhere else or what have you. And I can almost guarantee 10 out of 10 counsellors here would go, I appreciate you vocalizing it. It must have not been an easy thing. And I want to commend you on speaking up and let's get that process going. Like it's not an easy thing and we all acknowledge it's not. And so it takes a lot for, for folks to vocalize that, but it's ultimately for their own benefit.
Katherine Hurtig
It's true.
Rasha Taha
They're standing up for themselves. Right. Like, and that is, again, even if it's not, if it's not me who's helping you, like I want to, I want to find someone who is able to help you. And it's a pretty big step that folks are willing to step out of their comfort zone and vocalize that.
Katherine Hurtig
So if it's a client working with Calgary Counselling Centre or Counselling Alberta, they're able to, to request a different counsellor with us?
Rasha Taha
Yeah. So you can request being transferred to a different counsellor. You can let your current counsellor know what it is that wasn't fitting and they can look around and go, oh, I think you could be a good fit with so-and-so, or you could be a good fit with so-and-so. It's important to be able to honor that if it's something that we're able to accommodate. So someone may say, I want someone who is X, Y, Z, and we go, well, we can't really accommodate that. How else can we have this conversation? Maybe it's someone outside of CCC. Maybe you're looking for something that we don't necessarily are able to offer. And that's okay. We will refer you externally. We have resources. And so it really is going to depend on what it is that the client is looking for.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, yeah, that's really important to make sure that people get the help they need even if it's not with us.
Rasha Taha
Yeah, exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
And if you've gone through a few sessions with a counsellor and there's a feeling like, I don't know if it's like discomfort or a resistance or what have you, whatever that may be, how can you tell the difference between, you know, the discomfort that's kind of part of growth or just something that's not working.
Rasha Taha
That is a tough one.
Katherine Hurtig
I guess that would require a lot of self-awareness.
Rasha Taha
You took the word right out of my mouth. And I think your counsellor can help you with that if you feel comfortable putting it out there because it may be a matter of the counsellor having to shift approaches. It may be a matter of them changing something and how they've conceptualized your treatment plan. So it could be something that they can do so long as you vocalize it. And so if clients are feeling a particular way in terms of discomfort and aren't able to pinpoint it, that can be a whole session in and of itself.
Katherine Hurtig
Yeah, for sure.
Rasha Taha
So I think it can be useful regardless to bring it up and go, I can't actually tell the difference. Is this, am I uncomfortable because growth is uncomfortable and it's new and it's weird and it's scary? Or are you and me just not clicking? And your counsellor will probably lean into that conversation with you and help you wade into it.
Katherine Hurtig
And know the right questions to ask.
Rasha Taha
Exactly.
Katherine Hurtig
So Rasha, just to wrap up, what's one piece of advice that you give someone who's feeling nervous or unsure about finding the right counsellor?
Rasha Taha
Fill out the intake form, put it out there and go through that process. Because again, you don't know what you don't know. And so if you're not entirely sure, if you're nervous about your preferences, you don't know what your preferences are, the best thing that you can do is take that step. Because that's usually often the hardest step is just going on the website, filling out an intake form, putting your information there and going through that process and then following up and then going from there. I think that's the biggest piece of advice that I can put out there is it's scary and you can still do it. And there's hope that things can change for the better.
Katherine Hurtig
Thank you so much.
Rasha Taha
You're welcome.
Katherine Hurtig
You've been listening to Living Fully, a Calgary Counselling Centre podcast. Thank you for tuning in. This episode was produced by Luiza Campos, Manuel Montano, Jenna Forbes, and by me, Katherine Hurtig. A special thanks to Rasha Taha. To stay up to date on our latest episodes, be sure to subscribe. We're available in your favourite podcast app. Living Fully is a production of Calgary Counselling Centre and recorded in Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. Living Fully podcast is not a substitute or alternative for professional care or treatment. Calgary Counselling Centre and Counselling Alberta provide effective counselling to anyone in Alberta with no waitlist and no financial barriers. Find us online at calgarycounselling.com and counsellingalberta.com. For help across Canada and the United States, call 211. If you are outside of Canada and the U.S., seek help from your general medical practitioner.